Berlin-based speaker company Teufel is relatively unknown outside of Europe (and China), but it ain’t no small fry. Teufel humble beginning started in 1979 selling loudspeaker DIY kits and components out of a store in Berlin, and the store made its first online sale, via email, as far back as 1985 – when Mr. T was still a thing. From DIY speaker kits, Teufel branched into ready-made loudspeakers and the rest, as they say, is history. However, despite it having expanded into the international market since 2011, Teufel is relatively unheard of in Asia and North America.
Teufel has quite some portfolio, though, ranging from home cinema to stereo system and multi-room setup to headphones and gaming-centric speakers. The Teufel Rockstar Cross Bluetooth Speaker you see here is one of its newest product released late last year. One look and you know why we are featuring this: it has a design that screams “look at me!” And also, it is portable, complete with a shoulder strap for it to carried it like the mini compo days. There’s a bit of nostalgia here, but at same time, it is not retro-ish. It is the feel, I find.
Behind the grill, it packs two large 20 mm tweeters – one on each side to reproduce true stereo sound, an integrated long stroke 120 mm subwoofer for precise bass, two passive diaphragms for even more low frequency boost, and a Class D amplifier to ensure distortion-free loud audio. It has a plastic enclosure which is sealed in flexible rubberized outer that offers in shock and splash resistance (IPX5 rated, we heard). Even the physical buttons are rubberized to eliminate any chance of foreign materials from infiltrating the device.
It is, of course, Bluetooth-enabled, supports Bluetooth aptX for high-quality audio streaming. It also support multiple Rockstar Cross setup to create an even bigger sound and it is outfitted with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that affords up to a cool 20 hours of playback. We noted a couple of interesting feature which the product page did not touch on.
On the device there are two buttons. One to activate voice control and one for “Outdoor Mode.” We are not sure what ‘voice control’ is. Whether it is an integration with popular voice assistants or Teufel’s own voice control, but we do know the latter is a special outdoor mode that, if the device is placed on the ground, the sound will be directed upwards, or something along that line.
Teufel Rockstar Cross Bluetooth Speaker is a bigger brother of the Teufel Rockstar Go which, according to our source, is in the league JBL Xtreme 2. Teufel Rockstar Cross Bluetooth Speaker is available from Teufel web shop for £279.99 including VAT (about US$366).
Images: Teufel.
Source: avguide.ch.
